o live quietly in this, your city, obedient to your
laws, and pursuing such careers as our abilities may fit us for."

"All this that ye desire, and more, most gladly shall be done, and a
grand festival shall be appointed for this night to celebrate the peace.
The Pharaoh will entertain you and his royal friends with feasting and
with dancing, and the terms of the compact between us shall then be
ratified."

At this point a grey-beard interrupted the young ruler, and a spirited
conversation took place between them, after which the youth asked,--

"Tell me now, are there not many more such men as ye upon the Blue Star,
who may come to wage a further war with us?"

"Have no fear for that," I answered. "The vessel in which we came is the
sole means of bridging that vast space, and no more can come, unless
indeed we bring them. But all of them shall keep the covenant we make
with thee."

Then Zaphnath held a long consultation with the wise men, which ended by
the summoning of three soldiers--one to take the woman home, another to
carry the news of peace to the Park and to the people, and the third, as
I supposed, to convey a message to the Pharaoh; but before the last was
despatched, Zaphnath said to me,--

"Our messengers reported a third curious person with you, having a much
larger body and long moving horns. What have ye done with him? Is he
left in charge of your travelling house?"

Then I explained this circumstance to them, as well as the incident of
my smoking, which I promised to repeat at the banquet in the evening.
After hearing this they dispatched the third messenger.

"We have heard, not only that ye breathed smoke and carried flames in
your limbs, but that your flesh was of iron, invulnerable to arrows;
that ye were stronger than birds, and carried the thunder and lightnings
of the gods with which to kill; and that ye were able to walk through
the air as well as on the ground."

"'Tis true we are stronger than any birds upon our proper star, and that
we kill with a thunder and a lightning. Our flesh is tougher and more
solid than thine, yet 'tis not of iron. But tell me, what knowest thou
of iron?"

"'Tis a rare, precious metal which we coin for money, but I see thou
carriest much of it. Thy thunderers are made of it."

"And hast thou no metal, bright and yellow, such as this?" I asked,
exhibiting my gold watch.

"In truth, the Pharaoh alone is able to possess such riches, and in all
the land o